


Push. Pull. Repeat.

by iamfinallyhere



Category: The Host (2013), The Host - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: But just a little, Cheating, Competence Kink, Dirty Talk, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Hand & Finger Kink, Infidelity, M/M, Outdoor Sex, Post-Canon, Profanity, Sexual Tension, Top!Ian, bottom!Jared
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-11
Updated: 2017-08-11
Packaged: 2018-12-13 23:34:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11770773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamfinallyhere/pseuds/iamfinallyhere
Summary: "We can't.""I know.""But god, I want to."[Jared has a thing for hands. Ian has nice ones.]Warning: Infidelity. Melanie and Wanda get cheated on here.





	Push. Pull. Repeat.

**Author's Note:**

> Post-Canon. Two years after the end of the movie and they're still in the caves. 
> 
> I do not own the rights to the characters, places, or names used in this story. Check out Stephenie Meyers for that.

Push. Pull. Push. Pull

Push needle in. Pull needle through. Repeat. 

The hole in Jared's pants pocket became smaller as Jared cinched the thread tight in the fabric. He turned the pants over in his lap and repeated the pattern with nimble fingers. His mother had taught him long ago to stitch. He was five and ripped a hole in his favorite Batman shirt. He sputtered and cried pitifully until his mother pulled out her sewing kit. With deft fingers and black thread, she quickly sewed up the hole. The rocking and turning of her hands over fabric entranced him, soothing his worries. Her slender fingers manipulated the needle and thread with such precise care that when young Jared had attempted to sew a patch onto his denim jacket, he spent five hours doing so.

 

Jared was tying off the last stitch in his pants when a soft cough pierced the silence. He looked up, eyebrows coming up in greeting. “Wanda,” he welcomed. “Come in.”

She smiled from the entrance of his bunk and shook her head. “I’ll only be a moment. Sorry if I’m interrupting, but can you fetch Ian? Jeb is holding a gathering or, um.. a 'town hall meeting’, I believe he called it. He would like to meet with Ian before then.” Wanda's ice blue eyes sparkled with mirth. It always amused her to learn new human colloquialisms. “It is my rotation to help the kitchen prepare dinner, so I can’t look for him right now."

Jared nodded. "Sure thing. I'll bring him to the...?" he trailed off.

"Please send him to Jeb's bunk. Thank you, Jared." Wanda bowed her head politely and quietly stepped out of sight.

 

After asking around the caves, Jared found Ian bent over an engine block pulled from one of their cars. Tools were strewn all around him on the workbench and on the floor. Ian was covered in grime from his hands to his face. 

"The truck?" Jared asked by way of greeting.

Ian bit his lip in exertion as he pulled apart two metal pieces stuck together. The veins on his wrists raised as he attempted to pry the pieces free. "Yep, she's been-," he grunted when the pieces popped apart with a metallic clink, each piece falling into his wide palms. "Finally, Jesus," he muttered and placed one of the parts delicately onto the workbench. Jared didn’t notice before, but there were scars, old and new, peppering Ian’s hands, or at least from what Jared could see beneath the grime. It didn’t surprise him considering the handiwork Ian seemed to always find himself involved in, whether he liked it or not.

"She's been sputtering once she hits 60? Yeah, during the last food run I thought she was gonna combust on the way back," Jared mused and leaned onto the workbench to inspect the engine. In all honesty, he knew nothing about cars, but the absolute workmanship that the O'Shea brothers put into maintaining and repairing the group's automobiles was something to behold. Jared had seen Ian work wonders with wire hangers, garden hoses, and duct tape.

"We can only repair the engine so much with rigged up parts until she gives out once and for all. We have to do another run, but this time, we have to find an auto parts shop," Ian sighed and reached for the flathead screwdriver next to Jared's hand. His callused thumb brushed the top of Jared's knuckle and smeared a swathe of grime onto Jared's skin, catching on the skin there ever so slightly. "Sorry,” he apologized half-heartedly and palmed the handle of the screwdriver. Jared watched, fascinated as Ian let the screwdriver slip from palm to fingers and was utterly hypnotized when those fingers quickly spun the butt of the handle to loosen a screw in the metal part. 

Jared knew he was staring; he couldn't help it. If the world had been different, he could imagine Ian's long fingers caressing over black and white piano keys, precise and effortless.

Jared had seen what those hands were capable of. He had seen them wrapped, strong and sure, around a scythe as Ian sliced into the wheat field in graceful long arcs. He had seen those hands curl protectively around Wanda's cheeks and cradle her face as if she were the most precious porcelain. Jared had seen those hands, clenching a gun, forefinger poised over the trigger with lethal certainty.

He wondered what those hands would feel like on his skin.

Jared felt his breath catch minutely in the back of his throat at the sudden, intrusive thought. He took a shallow breath and tried to shoo away the phantom caress of callused fingers on his neck.

"Did you need something, Jared? Is that why you came over?" Ian asked distractedly. He was hunched over the engine once more and shoving yet another metal piece into its respective slot. Jared's eyes traced the veins in Ian's forearms as the muscles shifted and strained beneath sweat-slicked, golden skin.

"Jeb wants to see you before the town hall meeting,” Jared replied, eyes trailing from Ian's arms to his broad shoulders and eventually the other man's face. Ian was one of the more handsome, stronger men in the group. Jared was not oblivious to the stares and whispers that filled every room Ian exited. The younger girls (and one or two of the boys) stared at him with unabashed heat and the older, less open-minded men and women mourned his relationship with a "dirty" Soul. Jared chewed the inside of his lip as he felt a stir within him at the unbidden thought of following Ian out of one of those rooms and into some secluded part of the caves and ... doing what exactly?

Jared didn't quite understand the mechanics of two men engaging in such intimate relations. Not that he was averse to it, but it had always been women until this point, leaving him a novice on this particular side of the fence. Questions floated to the forefront of his mind. Would Ian's mouth be soft like Melanie's? Would Ian be pliant under his touch or would he be aggressive?

The thought of Ian possibly being aggressive with him made a coil of lust unfurl in his stomach.

Ian lifted his head, "Okay. I'll be there in five-."

Jared felt his throat clench shut when Ian's eyes met his. He wasn't sure what Ian could see, but whatever Ian saw made the man's eyes narrow in confusion.

"Yeah." Jared cringed inwardly at the strain in his voice. "I'll see you then."

He spun on his heel and restrained himself from dashing out the door and away from Ian's searching eyes.

 

Jared avoided Ian after that. After the town hall meeting, Jared injected himself into conversations and milled about the room. During dinner, Jared sat at the table with the medical crew and received a brief overview in stitching wounds and removing them after healing. He attempted to ignore Ian's confused stare from their usual table in favor of asking one of the newly found nurses her thoughts on what the best stitch to close smaller superficial wounds was. She launched into a diatribe about the various stitches, but Jared found himself unable to process it. The weight of Ian's eyes on his face was enough to send him into distraction, so he nodded vaguely whenever the nurse paused and stared at him expectantly.

For days after, Jared would pass Ian in the hall and nod a simple curt greeting, prompting Wanda to quietly ask Ian if they had an argument once she thought Jared was out of earshot. Ian responded in a hush whisper that Jared could not hear.

 

A week after Ian caught Jared staring, Jared had the misfortune of stumbling upon him during a gun cleaning.

“Hi,” Ian acknowledged him without lifting his head. The fair haired man was sat at a small picnic table, gun parts and cleaning supplies strewn about not unlike his work with the engine.

“Hi,” Jared responded in kind. To walk away at this point, would be outright admitting that something was going on. He had to play it cool, or try to, at least. Thoughts of strategy ebbed as he watched Ian push and pull on the cleaning brush inserted into the gun’s barrel. It was almost perverse the way his hand worked in languid strokes, once again leaving Jared to wonder how that hand would feel wrapped around his-

“Can I help you?” Ian set down the gun and looked up, eyes narrowed in exasperation and a fair bit of irritation.

“No, I’m just…” Jared trailed off uncertainly, wondering if he should forgo strategy and just head back to the common area. He gathered his conviction and sat down across from his friend. He pointed to the gun. “Is that Kyle’s?”

Ian gazed at him apprehensively for a long beat, making Jared shift awkwardly in his seat. “Yeah. He found it last week,” he replied after a painstaking silence.

“Oh.” Jared nodded, eyes cast down and roaming curiously over each part. He reached out for the disassembled gun handle and weighed it in his palms. “It’s heavy. Bigger too.”

“More so than what you’re used to holding,” Ian drawled, allowing a smirk to spread over his face.

Normally, Jared would laugh at the perverse joke and respond in kind. When he laughed this time, it came out in a hesitant titter. He stood when Ian arched a concerned eyebrow at him.

“Hey man, like, I was just joking-“

“I know, Ian.” Jared smiled wanely. “I’ve been having an off day today.”

“You’ve been having an off week, if we’re being honest,” Ian retorted. “What’s up with the cold shoulder, Howe?”

Jared merely shook his head and stalked off.

 

It shouldn't have surprised Jared when Ian came to his bunk after lights out. The man was not one to cow from confrontation. Ian had been lucky that Melanie had fallen asleep early, leaving Jared to read one of his tattered books by flashlight next to her.

"Hey," Ian whispered softly to avoid waking her. "We gotta talk."

Jared simply nodded and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. Like Ian, Jared also reminded himself that he is a man of conviction.

He tried to ignore the sinking feeling that he was a lamb being led to the slaughter.

 

Ian led Jared to the furthermost caves from the group. Jared was conscious of the fact that this series of cave were ones that couples often escaped to when they were feeling particularly amorous and in need of privacy. He had only been here a handful of times before during the daytime with Melanie when the sun pierced through holes and cracks in the mountain, illuminating the carved paths. Now, at nighttime, the pitch black would have engulfed them had it not been for the electric lantern in Ian's hand and Jared's own flashlight.

"Follow closely." Ian spoke over his shoulder.

"Alright." Jared responded brusquely. "Wait. Where are you going?"

Ian had stopped and was shimmying through a narrow crack in the wall that Jared had seen before, but disregarded as leading to nowhere.

"Trust me." The other man grinned.

 

"Holy shit, O’Shea. This place is amazing." Jared murmured in awe as he looked up into the wide hole in the cave's ceiling. It extended from the top and down one wall, allowing moonlight to pour in. The stars were pinpoints of light in the black sky. It was only after his admiration of the night sky did he realize that they were fairly exposed. "What about the seekers?" 

"Well, ever since we took the Seeker out of Lacey, it looks like they called off their search in this area. They hate the desert and only came here to look for us under the Seeker’s orders. They never liked her much anyway. So we're safe up here." Ian assured. "I've been here plenty of times."

Jared felt a playful smirk tilt his lips reflexively. "Plenty of times, huh."

Ian shook his head with a chuckle. "Not like that. I come here alone when the group gets to be a bit... much." He sat down on a smooth patch of ground and gestured to the spot next to him. 

The jovial atmosphere evaporated immediately and Jared hoped Ian would just brush the whole situation off as a fluke, as a temporary dip in their friendship, but the hard, determined look in Ian's eye told him otherwise.

He sat down next to Ian, putting an arm’s length distance between them.

"Dude, I'm not going to shout to talk to you," Ian muttered and scooted closer until they were shoulder to shoulder. He bent his knees up and propped his elbows on them, letting his hands hang in the air while his fingers twined together.

Jared's eyes instinctively followed the motion before flicking back to Ian's face. As easygoing as Ian was, his blue eyes were constantly observing, processing. It felt odd to be on the receiving end of such scrutiny, so Jared turned away to stare at the inky black shadowed doorways that led to other parts of the cave.

“So, are you mad at me or something? Have I wronged you in some way? What’s going on with you?” Ian asked, frustration audible in his low voice. “Can’t you even look at me?.”

“No,” Jared responded taciturnly. “I mean, yes, I can look at you. No, I’m not mad. No, you haven’t wronged me.”

“Did Wanda-“

Jared shook his head, “Nothing to do with Wanda.” 

“Then tell me what the hell is going on, Howe? Look at me,” Ian snapped, grabbing the front of Jared’s shirt and hauling him until they were eye to eye.

Jared’s brown eyes grew large and startled before they narrowed dangerously. Ian can see the fires of their past rivalry that had long burned out rekindle once more. “Let. Go,” Jared growled.

Had this been two or three years ago, Ian would have tightened his grip, maybe even land a punch or two. Instead, he let the fabric of Jared’s shirt slip through his fingers and rested his hand on Jared’s collarbone. Jared bit the inside of his cheek at the simple, yet strangely intimate gesture. He found himself pushing up into that hand, like a dog nuzzles into an open palm.

Ian pulled his hand back in surprise, confusion flashing through his eyes before clearing into dawning realization. "You have a thing for hands."

Jared almost curled into himself at the blunt observation. 

"You have a thing for my hands," Ian clarified.

The smug tone in Ian's voice rankled Jared. "A lot of people have nice hands." He responded and immediately berated himself for his own petulant tone.

"Oh, do they?" Ian asked. “Do you watch Kyle take apart engines? Do you watch Jeb cleaning his rifle? Do you watch them like you watch me?”

Jared closed his eyes with a resigned sigh. There wasn't any use in lying to Ian. The man was perceptive enough to know truth from fiction and pretending otherwise would be a lesson in futility. "No."

“Okay. Wow. Whoa.” Ian let out a low whistle. “So, you like my hands.”

Jared sneered, “Happy? It’s out there. Can we not talk about this? It’s mortifying enough as is.”

“You like my hands,” Ian reiterated. He cleared his throat in a surprising moment of hesitation. "… Do you like the rest of what they're attached to?"

Jared's head snapped to catch Ian's gaze. He felt his mouth wobble as a bubble of laughter threatened to spill. "Did you just-"

"Shut the hell up." Ian reached out and shoved his shoulder, tipping the other man over for a moment.

Jared chuckled heartily and sat right back up. "That was kind of cute, Ian."

"Yeah, well, you're kind of cute," Ian muttered miserably and proceeded to bury his face in his hands with an embarrassed laugh. "I hate this. This is terrible. We need to stop."

After the laughter subsided, the two were immersed in silence once more.

"We can't." Jared spoke up in a whisper.

Ian sighed. "I know."

Jared looked down at the rock floor, eyes tracking the shadows in the rocks indentures.

"But god, I want to."

Ian’s confession was so swift and breathless that Jared had to look up at the other man, only to find those hands reaching for his face and pulling him into a bruising kiss. His lips stung, but Ian's mouth opened against his and those hands slid around to the back of his neck and shoulders and...

Jared found himself laid out on the ground, returning Ian's kisses with equal ferocity as his hands tugged on Ian's shirt to pull the other man down as Jared arched up. He heard himself moan against Ian's mouth and he was almost embarrassed at how wanton he sounded until Ian buried his face against Jared's neck with a tight, almost pained groan.

"Beenwantingtodothis." Ian confessed in one short breath before placing a harsh sucking kiss on Jared's Adam's Apple. Jared tilted his head back and let Ian brand him; he didn't care. Not when Ian's hot mouth seemed intent on drawing ragged moans from his throat.

It was insanity; the amount of want that coursed through Jared. "Just... For fuck's sake..." He huffed towards the night sky.

"Just what, Jared."Ian challenged, voice gravelly with want.

Jared wanted to hear more of it.

So Jared opened his legs and sighed in pleasure when Ian fell between them. He let his head loll to the side to release a small breathy laugh as Ian began to rut against him. The laugh quickly turned into a gasp as Ian pressed down harder with every pass. Ian's fingers clenched into the sand beside Jared's head and Jared could feel every taut muscle in the other man as their bodies met again and again. 

Jared bucked his hips when Ian thrust against him in a particularly sinuous glide, drawing a moan that seemed to claw its way up from Jared's stomach. Jared's heels dug into the ground and he pressed up hard when Ian repeated the motion.

It was only when Ian's palm cupped under his cheek and turned his face forward did he realize that his eyes were closed. He opened them to find Ian's heavy gaze trained on his face. 

“For you, it’s hands. For me,” Ian began, leaning down to capture Jared’s lips in a short kiss, eyes open. “It’s eyes and… mouths.”

When Ian's rubbed his thumb against the edge of Jared's lower lip, Jared parted his lips expectantly and when the callus on Ian's thumb caught on the sensitive skin of his lip, Jared felt a wave of lust come over him. He couldn't help the pleading whimper that fell from his mouth. "Ian."

Ian froze, eyes darting all over Jared’s face. Jared didn't know what Ian was seeing, but whatever the blond man saw made his blue eyes grow even darker and lustful.

Jared bucked beneath the other man, trying to garner pleasure from Ian without any success. It was torture. "Come on, man." He whined. Jared was on edge and his body cried out to have Ian pressed against him once more. He pulled at Ian's hips, but Ian was resolute. 

“Say it again.”

Jared opened his eyes, wide and pleading.

Ian groaned and cupped Jared’s cheek again, thumb gently running over his cheekbone. “… You have no idea how tempting you are, do you…” 

Jared lifted his head to brush his lips against Ian’s. “Ian… Please?”

“Fucking hell…” Ian murmured and caught Jared’s mouth in a searing kiss that forced Jared’s head back to the ground. Jared wrapped his arms around Ian’s shoulders, fingers clutching tightly into the fabric pulled tight over them. Ian scrambled to undo both their pants and when Jared was finally freed to the night air, he released a sigh of relief that quickly turned into a low moan when he felt Ian’s own arousal pressed against his.

Jared let out a litany of Ian’s name when Ian wrapped his large hand around them both and gave a solid tug. Ian groaned and buried his face into the juncture of Jared’s neck and shoulder, mouth opening to press firm kisses there. 

Jared was babbling incomprehensively now. “Never felt this. Feels-“ Jared’s voice broke as Ian squeezed with more pressure. 

Jared felt himself approach the apex of pleasure, so near the precipice of falling over. Climax was there within his reach. It came and ebbed, taunting. So overwhelmed, he couldn’t even cry out, except for the hard, breaths he panted out against Ian’s ear. “Please. So close. I want...,” he mewled desperately.

“Goddamn, you sound amazing,” Ian breathed and dragged his mouth to Jared’s once more in an open-mouthed kiss. 

With a final tug, Jared released; his body jerked underneath Ian’s as his hips bucked up for the last time. He spilled onto his stomach and Ian’s fingers; his seed serving only to slicken Ian’s pulls. Jared could see Ian was close and needed just that little….

Jared brushed Ian’s hand off his member and wrapped his own around it. He gave Ian a slow, languorous tug and watched as Ian’s hips snapped into the barrel of Jared’s fingers. Jared stroked him, varying his angles and squeezing at the tip before sliding down.

“Oh fuck.” Ian’s breath hitched around a low groan as a shudder overtook his body and he spilled onto Jared’s stomach. He fell back onto his ankles and let his head tilt back. “Holy shit, Jared. That was-.” He paused when he looked down at his friend.

“What?” Jared squirmed uncomfortably under Ian’s steady gaze.

“I wish I could take a picture of you right now,” Ian confessed. “All stretched out beneath me.” He placed fingertips on the come on Jared’s stomach and smeared it; tracing the muscles laying just beneath the skin and making Jared shiver. “Looking absolutely debauched.” Ian bit his lip. “You’re a fucking wet dream, Howe.”

Jared smiled beatifically before tangling his fingers within Ian’s to lift them up to his mouth.

Ian flushed, “Oh, you're not going to..."

Jared smirked and let his tongue flick out to taste their combined seed. He hummed his approval.

Ian blinked hard. “You’re making it very hard to want to leave this cave.”

Jared chuckled and released Ian’s hand. It was time to go back to the real world. He looked up at the stars twinkling above him. Despite knowing what lived amongst them, they were still beautiful. He had forgotten what it was like to watch them. To stare and admire without worrying about Souls or survival. He spotted a familiar constellation. He should ask Wanda-

Shit. Wanda.

Melanie.

Ian must have seen it in his face. He too looked disappointed in Jared, in himself. “Well, I guess we’re officially cheaters,” he croaked sadly. He shook his head. “When they find out, it’s going to destroy them.”

 

Melanie and Wanda were none the wiser. The two women were just happy to see their boyfriends friendly with each other once more. They were oblivious to the longing stares, the clenched hands yearning to reach out and touch. 

Jared and Ian knew it was going to happen again; it was inevitable. There was too much want between them.

 

Push. Pull. Push. Pull.

Ian pushed his hand through Jared’s hair, pulling on it gently to make him open his eyes.

Jared moaned as Ian pushed into him, his hands pulling Ian’s hips flush against his own. 

Repeat.


End file.
